In their weekly Crop Progress and Conditions Report, USDA pointed out

Corn photos from MI Corn College 2014.

© Aimee Cope

In their weekly Crop Progress and Conditions Report, USDA pointed out what farmers already know: crops are behind, and their condition isn’t really improving.

According to USDA, 17% of the nation’s corn is in the silking stage. That’s a small number compared to the historical average of 42% for this week. Corn in Illinois, Ohio, South Dakota and Michigan continues to be severely delayed. While the condition did improve by 1% this week, it’s still looks much worse than it did last year.

Soybeans also continue to be delayed. USDA reports soybean emergence is all but complete at 95%. While the percentage of the crop that is blooming jumped 12% last week to 22%, it’s still well behind the historical average of 49%. Similar to the corn crop, soybean condition improved slightly last week but is still worse than 2018.

Read the full report here.  

​